Chicago Police Applaud Armed Self-Defense

And so was his companion. Since the people who defended their lives with a handgun were what National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea might call “Only Ones,” it was politically safe even for high-ranking “exempt” members of the Chicago and Markham police departments to praise their courage and decisiveness, and no one felt obligated to make the standard political statements that always seem to follow any incident where a plain old citizen defends herself from a robber, a rapist, murderer or mugger:

“Although it happened to work out for the best this time, we do not encourage civilians to take the law into their own hands,” or . . .

“It’s usually a lot safer just to give them what they want and comply with all their commands,” . . .

“It’s great that this citizen was able to defend herself, but this is the sort of thing you should really leave to the police. We’d rather you call 911 and be a good witness.”

In fact, the case was considered so straightforward that Chicago detectives questioned the shooter, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office declared the shooting justified, and the Markham Police Department is already talking about how soon the shooter can return to work–all in the same day.

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All that is appropriate; the shooter earned his congratulations and his hassle-free trip through the legal process by responding with alacrity and precision to a lethal attack. Chicago police are being exhorted to “be warriors” by their bosses, and that’s what this Markham officer apparently did. Everybody won in this situation, in short, except the people who failed so spectacularly at victim selection.

Happy ending, freeze frame on laughter, roll credits and let’s switch to a commercial while we cue up the next bit. Read more